Community Forum/User Control Panel
The User Control Panel (or simply UCP) is an essential tool for the creation and management of both WolfQuest community forum and legacy game accounts. This utility offers a range of options for logged-in members. Registration community_forum_ucp_registration-start.png|Registration, initial COPPA check. community_forum_ucp_registration-user-agreement.png|User agreement. community_forum_ucp_registration-creation-COPPA.png|Registration page, COPPA account creation. community_forum_ucp_registration-creation.png|Registration page, standard account creation. Account creation is primarily handled through the UCP. Forum registration is free, allowing anyone to sign up for an account — users younger than 13 years of age require their parent or legal guardian's consent for participation submitted via fax or mail. Visit the COPPA article for more information. The process will require: *An unclaimed, unregistered username. **Valid usernames may contain alphanumeric, spacers, or - (dashes), _ (underscores), or [ ] (square brackets) characters. **Usernames may contain no less than 3 characters and no more than 20 characters. **Usernames can be changed per request at any time. *A valid e-mail address. This will be required in order to activate the account once it has been created. *A valid date of birth. (Data entered for the COPPA check is not stored and is only used to process the user's age before continuing to account creation.) *A password between 6-20 characters. People are also required to verify that they are human. "E-mail updates" subscribes the account holder to the WolfQuest Newsletter; this can be changed at any time from the profile section of the UCP. Timezone may also be defined. While the option for language input exists, it is not possible to choose any non-English languages. This is due to the forum being largely an English-only resource. After creating an account successfully, the board will promptly send a message to the e-mail address determined during account creation. Be sure to check SPAM or junk filters if nothing arrives within ~30 minutes after completing account registration. If nothing arrives within a day, ensure that admin@wolfquest.org is whitelisted (not blocked) before resending an activation request from the login page. If still nothing arrives, consider e-mailing info@wolfquest.org for assistance. Compatibility Community forum or website accounts are tied to 2.5.1 and older. Those wishing to play multiplayer in the old free game must first create an account on this database. Accounts for the old free game and new premium game are incompatible with the other's database; a 2.7 account will not work in 2.5 or vice versa. This is because they operate on separate databases. The creation of a 2.7 account will not simultaneously create a forum account. Players of the premium game looking to participate on the forums must create a new forum account. The same e-mail address in use by their 2.7 game account may be used for their forum/2.5 account. During forum registration, incompatibility is made especially clear on the first registration page. community_forum_ucp_registration-start.png|Registration, premium game incompatibility along with initial COPPA check. community_forum_ucp_loginerror_invalidusername.png|Attempting to login with an incorrect username. community_forum_ucp_loginerror_invalidpassword.png|Attempting to login with an incorrect password. Overview The overview module places users on its front page, which houses all important board-wide announcements published or otherwise shared by administrators that all users are encouraged to read at their earliest convenience. Before posting, the forum guidelines are an essential read. Tabs contained within the overview: *'Manage subscriptions' - Topic subscriptions are always saved within this section. Subscribing to a topic will notify the user about new posts. *'Manage bookmarks' - Bookmarked topics are saved to this section for future reference, making it easy to find a topic again. *'Manage drafts' - Any forum posts that have been saved at any point as a draft will be stored here. While in storage, users can view their drafts, edit them, or load it up to be posted. Loading and then posting a draft will delete the stored copy. *'Manage attachments' - Any files a user has attached to the forum will be housed here. Only Beta Testers, Moderators, Administrators and WolfQuest Team Members may upload and post attachments. Some usergroups may be limited to specific forums, while others may post attachments in any forum. It is worth noting that the default style does not support bookmarking, subscribing (without also posting) or bumping due to a missing footer bar. Fortunately, it is possible to override this manually or use alternatives.wolfquest.org • Bumping and Adding/Removing Bookmarks & Subscriptions Profile The profile module places users on the edit profile tab. The contents of this module covers profile data, signature data, avatar, account credentials and settings. Edit profile From this tab, users can define the following details. Note that all, if not most of these options are completely optional. Members are in no way obliged to provide the information requested and, if they do wish to fill in their profile data, they may do so however they please. For example, location can be a place the user is comfortable with sharing, or it can be nonsensical. Review the Forum Guidelines to ensure inputted profile data is not in violation of any rules. *'ICQ number' - ICQ, https://icq.com - Instant messenger akin to Skype, Discord, TeamSpeak and other such services. *'AOL Instant Messenger' - AIM - AOL Instant messenger "AIM". Discontinued as of 15-Dec-2017, thus rendering this profile field useless. *'WL/MSN Messenger' - Windows Live Messenger - Microsoft's instant messaging service prior to their acquisition of Skype. Discontinued as of 15-Mar-2013, thus rendering this profile field useless. *'Yahoo Messenger' - YIM, https://messenger.yahoo.com/ - Yahoo's instant messaging service. *'Jabber address' - Jabber, https://www.jabber.org/ - original XMPP-based instant messaging service. *'Website' - Allows the user to define a website or web space that they may associate themselves with. Common examples include pack websites, personal websites, game profiles, a DeviantART profile, etc. *'Location' - Allows the user to specify a location. This can be vague, silly, serious, or whatever the user wishes to input. Addresses of residence and phone numbers are not permitted. *'Occupation' - Allows the user to specify their occupation - their job or current role in life - if they have any. This can be real, fake, fantasy or anything the user wishes to input. Addresses of workplaces and phone numbers are not permitted. *'Interests' - Allows the user to specify their hobbies and interests if they wish to do so. *'Birthday' - Allows the user to input their date of birth. **Data inputted here is calculated to display the user's age on their full profile page. **Data inputted here will also be displayed in the birthdays section of the board index. If the inputted date of birth contains only day and month, the user's age is instead hidden. *'E-mail updates' - Explained earlier in the article. *'Staff Info' - A staff-exclusive field that moderators, administrators and WolfQuest Team Members may opt to use to better explain their role(s) or to leave guidelines for users to read before contacting them. Its use varies per person. This field cannot be edited by non-staff members. *'Originally' - A staff-definable profile field used to display a user's original username if they have requested a username change. Typically reverted if a username is rolled back to its original state. *'2.7 Username' - Allows the user to define their username in the premium game. Legacy usernames are tied to the user's forum account and therefore needs no profile field of its own. *'Name' - Allows the user to define their forename, an alias or a nickname. Sharing full legal names is not permitted. *'Gender' - Allows the user to define their biological sex or their preferred gender. Edit signature From this tab, users can create, manage or delete the signature that may be associated with any posts they make around the forum. This is completely optional. The forum guidelines do extend to signatures. Images are disabled and therefore cannot be applied to signatures. BBcode, URLs and smilies are all enabled and perfectly usable. Currently, the character limit is set to 300. Exceeding this value will display an error. Edit avatar From this tab, users can add or remove an avatar, which will automatically be associated with all posts and private messages they make around or send through the forum. Assigning an avatar is completely optional. The forum guidelines do extend to avatars. Avatars are limited to 100 x 100 pixels in width and height. Uploaded avatars cannot exceed a file size of 36.13 KiB; anything larger than these proportions or the specified file size can instead be linked off-site in order to bypass limitations, however, dimensions cannot be overridden. A free-use gallery containing anniversary submissions and game art has been provided within this module and can be viewed by clicking the leftmost Display gallery button. Edit account settings From within this tab, users can manage their account credentials. *'Username' - Users cannot change their username manually and must instead submit a request via wolfquest.org • Username Change Request Thread. *'E-mail address' - Permits the user to change their registered e-mail address. Upon confirmation, the user's account will be deactivated; the user must then manually reactivate their account. **If a user no longer has access to the account's current e-mail address, contact a board administrator for further assistance. **Requests processed by a board administrator bypass both the confirmation and reactivation steps. *'Password' - Permits the user to change their password. **If a user cannot access their account due to a forgotten password, they can use a forgotten password link found on the login page. **If a user has forgotten their account's username and/or e-mail address, contact a board administrator for further assistance. Board Preferences The board preferences module places users on the edit global settings tab. The contents of this module cover various preferences and defaults. Edit global settings From within this tab, users can change a selection of global defaults to suit their own personal preferences. *'Users can contact me by e-mail' - Allows the user to determine whether or not other members can contact the user with a form, which is then sent through the board. (E-mail addresses are confidential. They are never revealed during this process.) *'Administrators can e-mail me information' - Allows the user to opt-in or opt-out of receiving information from administrators. *'Allow users to send you private messages' - Allows the user to toggle receiving private messages from other members. Private messages from administrators and moderators will be sent and received by the user regardless of this setting and any inbox rules that have been established. *'Hide my online status' - Allows the user to opt out of appearing online, hiding their username for as long as the option is enabled from the viewonline list, viewing topic pages, and viewing forum pages. Note that a small handful of usergroups can see hidden users regardless of this setting. *'Notify me on new private messages' - If enabled, sends an e-mail notification. *'Pop up window on new private message' - If enabled, a pop-up window will appear to notify the user of new private messages. *'My language' - In most cases, this would permit the user to select their language and the displayed language used by the forum software. As WolfQuest is an English-only team, so too is its forum community. As a result this option only permits English (United States); though phpBB officially supports the installation of language packs, none have been installed. *'My board style' - Allows the user to change the board style. By default, guests and new users will see and use WolQuest2. Other options include the default phpBB style prosilver and the third-party style proBlack. The mobile switch option will appear regardless of whichever style the user has selected. Only the default WolfQuest style is missing its footer bar; the other two (and mobile theme) have theirs intact. *'My timezone' - Allows the user to specify which timezone is native to their location, or to change it to another country's timezone. **The default option used by the board is Central Standard Time. *'Summer Time/DST is in effect' - Allows the user to specify whether Daylight Savings Time (clock going backwards or forwards depending on the season) is in effect or not according to their location. *'My date format' - Allows the user to modify date and time syntax/display. Edit posting defaults From within this tab, users can change how the forum behaves when they post. *'Enable BBCode by default' - Defines whether BBcode will be enabled or disabled for all future posts made by the user. Does not affect previously-submitted posts. *'Enable smilies by default' - Defines whether smilies will be enabled or disabled for all future posts made by the user. Does not affect previously-submitted posts. *'Attach my signature by default' - Defines whether the user's signature (if filled out) will be attached to future posts made by the user. Does not affect previously-submitted posts. *'Notify me upon replies by default' - If enabled, subscribes the user to the target topic and sends e-mail notifications when new replies have been made. Subscriptions can be managed via subscriptions in the overview module. Edit display options From within this tab, users can change display options that affect other users' posts and profiles as well as their own. These changes do not affect other users in any way, shape or form. *'Display images within posts' - Defines whether or not images - specifically those which rely on IMGhttp://example.com/image.jpg[/IMG] tags - appear within posts and signatures. Does not affect the display of avatars or smilies which have separate toggles. *'Display flash animations' - Defines whether or not flash animations will appear. Largely unused as no flash animations are posted, and users cannot use this BBCode tag. *'Display smilies as images' - Defines whether smilies are displayed as images or as plain text in posts and replies. *'Display signatures' - Defines whether signatures attached to posts by the user as well as other members are displayed or hidden. Works independently of the option in posting defaults. *'Display avatars' - Defines whether avatars shown in profiles and mini-profiles appear within posts and on full profile pages. *'Enable word censoring' - Staff-exclusive option to toggle word censoring and replacement words. *'Display topics/posts from previous days' - Allows the user to define whether they want to see older topics. **Default: All topics, All posts *'Display topics/posts ordering by:' - Allows the user to choose how topics are sorted. **Default: Post time *'Display topic/posts order direction' - Sorts the above by ascending or descending order. **Default: Descending (topics), Ascending (posts) Private Messages The private messages module (commonly referred to as PM) places users on the Compose message page if using the Private messages tab, or the Inbox tab if the ( # new messages) shortcut is used. The contents of this module cover various elements to do with private messaging and maintenance for this feature. Further reading: *wolfquest.org • How do I send/check private messages? *wolfquest.org • I just sent a PM to someone- how do I know they received it? *wolfquest.org • Why can I not receive/send PM's from/to my friends? *wolfquest.org • How do I stop getting e-mails when I receive a PM? *phpBB faq.php entry Inbox Without any sorting rules applied, messages will be placed in the inbox folder by default. All Registered (COPPA) Users have a capacity of 50 messages per private message folder, while other usergroups possess higher capacities suitable to the needs of their role(s) - moderators have a capacity of 75 messages per folder, and administrators have a capacity of 100 messages per folder. Combined with additional folders, these can be increased to 300, 450 and 600 for each respective usergroup. When an inbox is full, no more messages can be received until it is cleared out unless the user has defined the default action. By default, the forum will hold back new messages until space becomes available. Compose Within this tab, users can compose a new message to send to another member if not a selection of members. There is a limit of one recipient per message for all newly-registered accounts in order to prevent and help protect against SPAM; this status is eventually removed through active contribution. Members may select up to 5 recipients per message, while senior members and both the current and all former users of the month may select up to 10 recipients per message. Groups can only be messaged by specific usergroups. Private messages cannot be sent to a user who has opted out of receiving messages from other members. BBCode, smilies and URLs may be used in private messages. Images cannot be used and currently may only be used by staff. Be aware that board preferences do carry over to and will affect the display of private messages. Rules, folders & settings Within this tab, users can define rules, create and manage folders, and change the default action which will take effect when the inbox has been filled to maximum capacity. Rules Rules can be set to automate certain actions for the user in order to make maintain a tidy inbox and to help make maintenance tasks in general a little more bearable. Defining rules is beneficial! Subject - Filters incoming messages by subject or title. The next stage allows users to set and filter by keywords, which can be used in conjunction with other rules. :is like :is not like :is :is not :begins with :ends with Sender - Filters incoming messages by sender. The next stage allows you to set and filter by keywords, which can be used in conjunction with other rules. :is like :is not like :is :is not :begins with :ends with :is friend - Filters based on the friends list of your community forum account. :is foe - Filters based on the foes list of your community forum account. :is user - Filters a specific user. :is in usergroup - Filters based on a specific usergroup. This ignores default memberships. Message - Filters incoming messages based on the message body. :is like :is not like :is :is not Message status - Filters incoming messages based on the status of the message. :answered - Defines an action to be performed after you have replied to any message. :forwarded - Defines an action to be performed after you have forwarded any message. (By default, registered users cannot forward PMs.) Sent To - Filters incoming messages if they were sent to you or your group. :to my default usergroup - Sets the defined action to occur if sent to the group that is your current default. :to me - Sets the defined action to occur if the incoming message is sent to your username. Cited from wolfquest.org • Private Messages: Guides, Tips and Tricks. Recommendations *''Sender'' → is foe → Delete message. This makes it possible to completely block problem users by adding them to the foes list. **Alternatively, if you do not wish to delete messages from foes, use mark as read and/or set to move messages from goes into another folder. *''Sender'' → Administrators → Place into folder: Staff. (Create this folder if it does not exist.) *''Sender'' → Global moderators → Place into folder: Staff. (Create this folder if it does not exist.) *''Message status'' → answered → Delete message. Folder management Users can easily add new folders, rename existing folders and delete folders they no longer desire. No new folders can be created after the fifth folder has been created. When removing a folder, the user will be able to choose whether they wish to keep its contents and move them to another folder, or if they would prefer to delete the folder along with all of its contents at the same time. Be forewarned that there is no way to recover deleted private messages! Default action By default, the forum will hold new messages back until there is enough space available in a folder to be able to deliver them. Users have two other choices available. They may delete messages automatically when the folder is full to regain sufficient space for incoming messages, or they can set up a new folder and redirect their incoming messages to it as a new inbox destination instead of maintaining the folder that has been filled to capacity. For busier inboxes, it is always a good idea to periodically clear out folders. Usergroups Usergroups can be used for a variety of functions, including (but not limited to) unlocking specific permissions, rewarding members, and easily creating (and managing) group-exclusive forum access. Like many other forums, the WolfQuest community forum utilises roles in the form of usergroups and offers ranks. Non-staff members' ranks are based on post count, however there are a range of ranks that are exclusive to certain membership defaults, or that can only be earned as a reward. By default, all accounts begin with Registered User (or Registered COPPA User for those under 13 years of age) status when a person signs up for and logs into the forum. There are many custom ranks and associated rank images, though these are purely cosmetic and have no impact on your in-game experienceswolfquest.org • How do I get a rank on the forums? and wolfquest.org • Why do people have things like 'pup' under their usernames?. Staff-ranks include WolfQuest Team MembersUsergroups#WolfQuest Team Members and AdministratorsUsergroups#Administrators and Administrators, both of which consist of members employed by Minnesota Zoo and Eduweb, respectively. Also on the same tier as volunteers who positively represent the WolfQuest Team are Global moderatorsUsergroups#Global Moderators and Moderators and WolfQuest Report TeamUsergroups#WolfQuest Report Team and WolfQuest Report Team members. In rare instances, volunteer administrators may be selected from current or former moderators who meet a certain criteria. Edit memberships Users are free to join a small handful of groups, though the majority are restricted to invitation from a board administrator or, for more significant usergroups such as Beta Testers and Moderators, WolfQuest Team members. Memberships can be used to distinguish roles of users in the form of a group-unique avatar, rank or color. This may also be accompanied by changes in permissions and configuration. All usergroups possess membership access types — most of which are determined by the board administrator or group leaders if any have been defined. This setting ultimately determine whether or not a usergroup appears in the legend (only when configured to do so) and affects visibility both in the edit memberships tab of the Usergroups module of the User Control Panel and on a user's profile in the groups dropdown menu. *'Freely open groups' are visible to and joinable by all members. Joining is instantaneous. *'Open groups' are visible to everyone, but can only be joined via request; these are manually reviewed and handled by group leaders or the board administrator. *'Closed groups' are visible to everyone, but can only be joined via invitation of a group leader or the board administrator. *'Hidden groups' are invisible to all but their members even when set as the default group. Colors, ranks and avatars will still be inherited and displayed to everyone, though the usergroup's page cannot be viewed by non-members even though URL manipulation. Attempts to do so will always return the requested usergroup does not exist error page. *'Special groups' are predefined groups automatically created by and initially preconfigured as part of the forum software. These are generally visible to everyone, but joining is limited to the invitation of a group leader or the board administrator. To join a usergroup, go to the Usergroups module of the User Control Panel. Using the radio buttons displayed under the Select column shown on the right side of each group, click a desired group to fill the button and then go to the bottom of the page to find Select: Join selected Submit. Click submit to join. To leave a joined usergroup, fill the radio button of the desired group and click the dropdown box, then select Resign selected and click submit. To make another group your default, go to the Usergroups module of the User Control Panel. This time, fill the radio button displayed in front of the group name, go to the bottom of the page and then use the Change default group button. Any group can be defined as a default in order to inherit its rank, color and avatar if defined. Setting group defaults is not mandatory where forum access is granted, nor is it required to set a group default in order to unlock additional permissions. In both cases, these are passive. Manage groups Group leaders can manage their groups via the Manage groups tab in the Usergroups UCP module. Here, they may manually edit group settings including name, description, type, color, rank, avatar, and they may manage existing members and pending member requests if the group is not freely open. Group leaders are defined solely by the board administrator. Groups that change permissions or grant elevated configurations last only for as long as the user remains a member. Removal by way of demotion or resignation will restore default permissions to the user. Naturally, users who are not group leaders will have no options available to them within this tab. Friends & Foes community_forum_ucp_friends&foes_managefriends.png|Friends & Foes; manage friends. community_forum_ucp_friends&foes_managefoes.png|Friends & Foes; manage foes. community_forum_ucp_friends&foes_foepost.png|Ignored forum post made by a member who is defined by the user as a foe. A default feature in phpBB forum software, the WolfQuest community forum allows users to choose their friends and foes via the Friends & Foes module contained within the User Control Panel. These lists play very little use in-game, however it's still a good way to keep track of select members on-site. Defining another member as a friend via the friends list allows users to easily contact that member via private messaging rather than typing in their username manually and has the added benefit of displaying users who are online at the top of the list. The user can define additional automatic actions for those messages, such as marking them or moving them to a specific folder within their inbox. Some styles may also highlight friends' posts. Defining another member as a foe via the foes list permits users to ignore those members, hiding all instances of their forum posts from view, though it is still possible for the user to read hidden posts made by foes. On its own, this will not block private messages; additional configuration is needed and explained here. The user can define additional automatic actions in the same way as they can with friends, which may instead include marking a message as read, moving it to another folder, or deleting it the moment it has been received. It should be noted that members with moderator or administrator status cannot be ignored for as long as they retain their respective status. To set up inbox rules, which include completely blocking messages received from users in the foes list or automatically moving messages received from friends, check out wolfquest.org • Private Messages: Guides, Tips and Tricks. Trivia *E-mails sent through the board will include mandatory account activation and staff e-mails. Messages sent by other members through the board as e-mail will also be received if the user has enabled this setting. Additionally, if opted in to receive them, notifications for subscriptions such as topic replies, or for received private messages may also be received. Group leaders may receive notifications about pending requests from members looking to join their group. *Ban Parrot remains something of an enigma of a joke in that it was a member of the moderator group despite being an unused and impractical (joke) account up until 2015, at which point it started to see some use as a joke account outside of being a mere reference. Its membership within the moderator usergroup was revoked in 2017. **Ban Parrot has the highest private message capacity of all usergroups. (1337.) References Category:WolfQuest Category:Community Category:Forums Category:Galleries Category:Accounts Category:2.5